Dreams of the Compass Rose by Vera Nazarian
01/12/2003 . Source: Donna Jones 

pub: Alan Rodgers/Wildside Press. 348 page hardback. Price: $39.95 (US). ISBN: 1-58715-584-2.

Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK.

check out website: www.wildsidepress.com and www.veranazarian.com

'Dreams Of The Compass Rose' tells of fourteen dreams, the dreams and histories of people that inhabit this strange but awe-inspiring place, Amarantea. It is a place that is inaccessible by the normal methods of transport, existing in the realm between realms where dream meets reality and sleep meets wakefulness.

Nadir, a boy nicknamed by his adoptive grandmother as the 'demon boy', finds himself making a promise to a princess who really does not deserve such a promise.

A Queen that has 'holes for eyes' helps design and build the Compass Rose, her efforts to show an unwilling and mad ruler the error of his ways and the truth behind these numerous errors.

'Dreams Of The Compass Rose' entwines the stories throughout the book to make a whole. At first, it seems that the tales are unconnected and that this book should really be marketed as an anthology but every piece is integral to a novel about a place. That place takes on a personality by the end. It is as if Amarantea has a soul and a single body. In a way, that is true of any story set in a single country or world but with this book it is overwhelmingly so.

Vera Nazarian describes this place using highly colourful language, intricate colours of sky, land and sea paint a picture in the reader's mind's eye of what is unfolding adding a more three-dimensional composition to the storytelling. The bright vibrant method of description makes for an uplifting and yet subtly textured landscape that is plagued by illusion and falsehoods.

Not every reader of fantasy will find this book appealing. It is not an easy read by any means, but it works on a level that most fantasy has yet to reach. I found myself re-reading some of the story arcs and finding new meaning behind the individual stories that I may have missed had I moved on swiftly.

Much like Nazarian's recent book, 'Lords of Rainbow', this is written in a modern fable kind of way. It reminded me of 'Tales Of The Arabian Nights' and had that special kind of magic that as a child would ignite your imagination and fuel a desire to read more. I believe that what makes Vera Nazarian stand out from the crowd is the way she makes her stories into adult fables, ones that big children will want to come back to time and time again.

The storytelling style of writing adds a magical spark to what is befalling the characters and the story finds a new depth of reasoning by doing this. The overall sensuality of tales steeped in legends that involve and consume their protagonists wraps the reader in a blanket of lives that you want to know more about. It folds over in such tantalising ways you lose yourself in your own imagination of the place called Amarantea.

The characters are as colourful as their habitat has been described. They are not your usual characters in that much of the time you neither like to read about them nor want them to come to peace. Nazarian throws in wild card characters that you really don't like but come to realise that there is a reason for their flaws and they should be pitied rather than hated.
'Dreams Of The Compass Rose' is beautiful in its delivery.

It never under-whelms the reader but nonetheless it doesn't try to be something it is not by adding huge set pieces of full-blown action just for the hell of it. The book takes on a charm and life of its own and again much like 'Lords Of Rainbow' has the appeal for you to go back to it in the future.

The story that I most enjoyed was one about a thief that has stolen death scythe. It is quite humorous and yet holds a meaningful intent and I liked that multi-layered direction.
This book is well worth a read. It doesn't shy away from deep meaningful discourse.

It embraces the ideas it contains and meets them full on. Nazarian has managed to fulfil a hole in the fantasy genre that had dwindled for so long it had nearly become extinct. Let's hope she continues to fulfil that daunting task.

Donna Jones